We’re kind of hit-and-miss about having a back-to-school party. It all depends on how rested I am at the end of the summer.

One thing for sure, I always strive to keep it as simple as possible so I’m not adding to my stress load. Also, we generally have it the day before school starts so I don’t want everyone worn out for the first day of school.

This year we invited friends of ours to join us. They have five little boys three of them in school. So altogether we had eight little boys and one girl running all over our backyard. The older children helped out, and everyone had a great time.

As I’ve mentioned before I like things simple. I didn’t want to have to come up with games or prizes. Instead we set up four stations manned by my four oldest children. This wasn’t a “Pinterest Perfect” party, but we had fun and that’s the most important thing.

My oldest daughter had  a photo “booth”. She hung a piece of camo fabric gathered up some of our camo wear and toy guns and our wooden horse. The children dressed up and posed. Now I can print a picture for each of them to have a memento.

My oldest son had the shooting range. We have several airsoft guns so he brought a couple. We set up a target and let the shooting begin. I thought this would be the most popular station. It was popular but not as popular as station #3.

Station #3 was manned by my second son. He had clay, and the children all had a blast making various animals and objects. Ezra even made a shark caught in the process of eating a fish!

Finally my second daughter had a cupcake station. She made cupcakes the night before. Then in the morning she made lots of different coloured frostings and set out lots of decorations. Each child decorated a cupcake for themselves and for one of the adults or older children. We used these as part of our dessert. She went all out and even made a sign announcing her station.

For a menu I went with hot dogs, store-bought potato salad, and two kinds of chips. For dessert we had the lovely cupcakes and ice cream. 

When planning this party I really tried to think of the strengths and interests of each of my older children while coming up with what their station would do. The menu was easy to plan – all child-friendly foods that required little preparation.

Afterwards the children headed back outside to run around some more while the adults enjoyed talking in the relative quiet of the house.

Do you or have you ever done a back-to-school party?